Equity and Access

Access and Equity in Out-of-School-Time Programs

By Robyn Martin

As with all other aspects of program individuality, out-of-school-time providers comprehend the concepts of access and equity, diversity and inclusion differently. These concepts are complex, and understanding how culture, language and community affect positive youth outcomes is crucial for a program to best serve participants. Diversity is recognized not simply through rhetoric, but also in staff, curriculum choices, programming, setting, and by making every effort to be inclusive.

Children in rural programs in our nation represent some of the most underrepresented populations. Children living in the Appalachia region, Native Americans living on or off reservations, children living on farms in rural Wyoming-each of these young people represent a need for extra learning opportunities, for the benefits afforded by before- and after-school programs; however, the barriers to providing these children with access to programs are high. Lack of transportation to programs in either rural or urban areas can effectively limit equitable access to programs. Again, children who most need the services of out-of-school-time programs are likely to be unable to access transportation if the program does not provide it. Recruiting afterschool providers and teachers, and enticing them to remain at programs that need them most is a challenge.

California Tomorrow has framed a working set of principles defining equity and access in out-of-school-time programs: ¹

Out-of-school-time programs and policies should result in improved outcomes for youth and should play a role in countering current gaps and inequities in social and educational supports and outcomes.
Resources should be allocated with a focus on the creation of after school support for children living in communities where such programs are scarce.
Policies and practices in the field should ensure that no community is excluded from being able to provide or access after school services due to barriers related to language, income, skin color, immigrant status, gender, and physical disability.
Programs should foster a positive sense of identity, build upon the cultures of the families, and offer a curriculum that values and responds to the strengths, challenges, and needs of all of the different kinds of youth in their communities (i.e. youth of different ethnicities, class backgrounds, spiritual beliefs, genders, sexual orientations, and physical or cognitive abilities).
After school programs should strengthen the capacity of young people to be active, contributing members of their families, communities, and our increasingly diverse society.
Policies and practices should support communities, parents and youth in shaping programs and determining which organizations should provide after school services.

The picture seems bleak for children who differ from the larger society because they are living in rural areas; are children of color; are immigrants or have immigrant parents; are "English Language Learners"; have a mental or physical ability/disability; are members of a different social class; or are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning. Developing and funding programs for these youth takes creativity and perseverance. No state legislation that has passed at this point has specifically addressed these concerns. Federal money is available for several of these categories-Even Start Literacy Program Grants for Federally Recognized Indian Tribes and Tribal Organizations, Upward Bound Programs, Funding through the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research-but the majority of funding needed to sustain such a program seems to come from private sources.

The Spot¹, an urban program in Denver, Colorado, is a unique and promising program serving an at-risk population. Founded in 1994 by gang members, homeless youth, gay and lesbian youth, and graffiti artists, the Spot attracts older youth, between the ages of 14 and 24, and offers positive social interaction and adult guidance. All services and activities are free, including GED and computer classes, job training and placement, music creation and recording studios, DJ mixing, graphics and web design, and photography. The Spot serves 80-100 youth each night, over 2000 unduplicated youth per year, mixing race, gender, educational level and job experience. Funding is secured by a great range of support from corporations, foundations, and individuals, as well as federal support for a Youth Opportunity (YO!) program on site. Talented people, from volunteer chefs interested in teaching the youth in a professional grade kitchen to a Berklee College of Music trained music studio coordinator, bring their energy and expertise to the youth. The Spot has shown positive youth outcomes and thrives with one cardinal rule posted: Respect each other.

Three Cambodian refugee university students in Fresno, California concerned about Cambodian children loosing their heritage founded the Khmer Emerging Education Program (KEEP) ² in 1992 as an initiative of the Cambodian Student Association of Fresno (CSAF). The free language and culture program currently serves over 300 students, with a long waiting list of children and university students, in 11 classes meeting for 2 hours every Thursday and Friday. The program was founded with clear objectives in mind: teach children to fluently speak, read and write Khmer; teach Khmer culture and traditional values; teach Southeast Asian history and geography; and promote the value of higher education through the use of teachers as role models. The Cambodian KEEP teachers are a mixture of bilingual instructional assistants and young university students, some of whom are graduates of KEEP. The dedication of KEEP staff and advocates is remarkable. A modest stipend funded teachers for a time, but funding is currently uncertain. Parents pay a mere $2 per month per child; teachers themselves donate $10 a month for supplies. When KEEP was founded, there were no supplies and the teachers made hundreds of copies of one book found in a refugee camp. This persistent attitude is the strength that drives the program deemed so valuable in this community.

Located in Manchester, Kentucky, Appalachian Communities for Children (ACC) ³ serves children ages five to 18 in the rural, mountainous region of Jackson and Clay Counties. ACC is a private community-based non-profit organization operated by and for low-income families and children, and is a key member of a collaborative between Save the Children, the Clay County Learning Center, the fire department, and local churches. In addition to providing the out-of-school-time programs housed in the center, ACC also developed "snow day kits" allowing 700 children to have educational and age appropriate activities available to them at home during the possible six weeks that schools are closed in the winter due to ice and snow. ACC built its foundation on the positive elements of Appalachian culture, looking to parents and community members to highlight the values of community and family unity inherent in the Appalachia way of life. In a heritage that is most often misunderstood and misrepresented, providing positive role models and a source of pride to both the children and the surrounding community, ACC is building on the positive elements of their culture.

California Tomorrow, a non-profit research organization finds that there are significant barriers to inclusiveness for all children who need services.

Eighty percent of programs surveyed serve some low-income youth, 57% charge fees that are not nominal, and 27% of majority low-income programs have no sliding scales or subsidies.
The vast majority of programs serve an ethnically diverse population-1/3 of the programs are very diverse, with over 5 different ethnic groups participating. Few programs and communities have sufficient resources and capacity to fully address the substantial needs of African American young people-this is more of a problem for African American young people than other groups. More than half the programs surveyed serve language minority children and youth-the majority serves 2 or more language groups and 30% serve 3 or more.
Almost 60% of the programs serve youth with physical disabilities and over 90% serve youth with learning, behavioral or mental disabilities.
Programs tend to deny extensively that issues of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or questioning youth exist and there is little or no interest in training. Only 10% of programs had components to support gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or questioning youth and their families.

By addressing diversity concerns, by fostering an environment of inclusion, out-of-school-time programs can nurture cooperation among future communities and generations. Eugene McCarthy once said: "As long as the differences and diversities of mankind exist, democracy must allow for compromise, for accommodation, and for the recognition of differences." So too must quality out-of-school-time programs allow for the inclusion that will make all children able to access services comfortably.

Overcoming Challenges: State Legislator's role

The legislature can recognize the importance of collecting demographic data and disaggregating outcome data, designing evaluations in ways that promote multiple perspectives, conducting evaluations in ways that support the involvement and engagement of people who are often excluded from governance and decision-making (students, parents, language minority communities, etc.), and developing frameworks for observations and data collection to elicit information on barriers to confirm the presence or absence of culturally responsive practices in funding out-of-school-time programs.
The legislature can use the evaluation process and data to promote dialogue, inspire reflection, and stir engagement within and among communities about their desired outcomes for youth and their visions of equity and inclusion.

¹www.TheSpot.org
²http://lennon.pub.csufresno.edu/~vsv14/page2.html
³http://www.savethechildren.org/usw-rur_communities.shtml
Scharf, A. "California Tomorrow's National Project on Equity, Access and Diversity in Afterschool and Youth Programs" (presentation to the Mott Foundation After School, Washington, DC, September 19 - 20, 2002).